{"id":1299258,"date":"2025-08-24T07:58:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T02:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?p=1299258"},"modified":"2025-08-24T07:58:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T02:28:57","slug":"supreme-court-questions-rs-100-charge-for-rs-20-water-bottle-in-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/supreme-court-questions-rs-100-charge-for-rs-20-water-bottle-in-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Questions Rs 100 Charge For Rs 20 Water Bottle In Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Delhi High Court has taken strong note of restaurants mandatorily levying service charges, asking why customers should pay over and above the already inflated Maximum Retail Price (MRP). A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted that ambience and hospitality should logically form part of the MRP, questioning the separate levy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"465\" src=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ify-13.png\" alt=\"Supreme Court Questions Rs 100 Charge For Rs 20 Water Bottle In Restaurants\" class=\"wp-image-1299269\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ify-13.png 1000w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ify-13-300x140.png 300w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ify-13-768x357.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A single judge in March had already ruled that restaurants cannot impose service charges in a \u201ccamouflaged and coercive\u201d manner, terming it an unfair trade practice. Despite this, many restaurants continued to levy such charges, prompting the appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ambience Already Included in MRP, Says Court<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>During the hearing, the bench cited the example of a water bottle priced at <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/city\/delhi\/when-you-are-charging-higher-mrp-in-name-of-experience-why-levy-service-charge-asks-hc\/articleshow\/123460763.cms\">\u20b920 but sold for \u20b9100 in restaurants.<\/a> \u201cIf you are already quoting \u20b9100, does that not cover the ambience and service you claim? Then what exactly is the additional service charge for?\u201d the court asked the counsel representing the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and Federation of Hotels and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judges stressed that ambience, music, and hospitality cannot be separately charged when consumers are already paying an inflated MRP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Centre Calls Service Charge a Burden<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The counsel for the central government defended the March ruling, describing service charges as a <strong>\u201cdouble whammy\u201d<\/strong> for consumers, who also end up paying GST on top. The bench, however, remarked that the government must strengthen its <strong>legal metrology department<\/strong> to enforce compliance more effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Restaurant Associations Defend Practice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The restaurant associations argued that service charges reflect the hospitality and experience offered to customers, claiming that menus are only \u201can invitation to offer\u201d and that diners have a choice whether or not to accept them. However, the bench remained unconvinced, pointing out that most customers face compulsion once seated and billed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u2019s Next?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The court has scheduled the next hearing for <strong>September 22<\/strong>, indicating it aims to settle the issue conclusively. Until then, the debate over whether service charges are justified \u2014 or an unfair consumer burden \u2014 continues to stir public interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Delhi High Court has taken strong note of restaurants mandatorily levying service charges, asking why customers should pay over and above the already inflated Maximum Retail Price (MRP). A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted that ambience and hospitality should logically form part of the MRP, questioning the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1299269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[177,6612],"class_list":["post-1299258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-supreme-court","tag-water-bottle"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Supreme Court Questions Rs 100 Charge For Rs 20 Water Bottle In Restaurants - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/supreme-court-questions-rs-100-charge-for-rs-20-water-bottle-in-restaurants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court Questions Rs 100 Charge For Rs 20 Water Bottle In Restaurants - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Delhi High Court has taken strong note of restaurants mandatorily levying service charges, asking why customers should pay over and above the already inflated Maximum Retail Price (MRP). 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